On this day:
PHANTOM FOES
On July 14, 1692, a military garrison in Massachusetts was surrounded by twelve strangers, who emitted such terrifying noises that those inside the garrison were convinced agents of the devil had come to call. Ebenezer Babson and his comrades burst forth from the building, guns blazing, to defend their families. Three of the strangers were shot and fell into the marsh grass, but they then got up again, uninjured, and ran away. Others were shot, and when the troops rushed to the spot where the bodies had dropped, found that the bodies had disappeared. The attackers could run through mud without leaving tracks. One of the invaders removed a silver gun from his shoulder strap and fired on Babson. The bullet, later retrieved from a tree, was thinly pointed and unlike colonial ammunition. The "unaccountable troubles" were usually spotted in twos or threes, and they spoke an unknown language.
A few weeks earlier, Babson was returning from a day's hunting and saw two strangers emerge from his home and run into the cornfield. His family insisted no one had been there. Grabbing his musket, Babson went back outside and spotted the two men hiding behind a log. They jumped up and disappeared into a nearby swamp. Dressed in tight-fitting pants and shirts, one wearing an unusual headdress, they caused Babson to think that Indians were preparing for an invasion, and he moved his family to the garrison for safety.
After the garrison attack, sightings of the mysterious attackers dropped off. The final report came from a single man, who was waiting in ambush for the visitors when his gun misfired. They gave him a disgusted look and carried on their way.
Text from: Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored by Juanita Rose Violins, published by Weiser Books, 2009
